Resharing this on behalf of a friend.

About two weeks ago I had my polygraph for the USSS. During the polygraph my examiner ended it early after the first set of questions, and stated that due to me having a significant physiological response to two suitability questions (severe crime involvement and USSS drug policy) that I have failed the polygraph and that due to USSS policy the examiner could not put me back in the chair to ask me further questions.

You can take my Reddit word for it if you want to or not but I can swear with every fiber of my being that those results were a shock to me SOLELY because I had told the truth.

The examiner was clearly not convinced and interrupted my initial denial stating that this wasn’t a matter of yes or no anymore, and that when reviewing the interview up until this point Washington isn’t looking for anything but a narrative/confession as to “why” and that when I provide that confession or narrative, then and only then, would Washington consider giving me a second chance at the polygraph. (It doesn’t take much experience in law enforcement, or any at all to see through that bullshit). I told the examiner that that is very unfortunate for me because there is no narrative to provide as I did not lie, and that by requesting me to provide a confession or narrative the examiner is effectively requesting me to lie. Each time I told the examiner this, they would go into long tangents providing me with various stories spanning across different themes to try and coerce that non existent confession out of me repeat this process about 4 or 5 times.

Side note, I do admit as that song and dance went on I did gradually become very unprofessional, but who doesn’t when they’re being told their lying when they’re not. Also there’s no way I could not laugh in the examiners face when they say “I’ve seen it plenty of times, a lot of people have their first orgasm because of their dog, and you thinking about that, and the guilt that comes with it when I asked you about a serious crime is what would cause that significant response you had”

Finally the examiner had enough of getting the same answer from me and the interview ended, they stated once again that I definitely failed and that the board in Washington was going to agree since I did not provide a narrative, but then asked me that in the unlikely scenario that they allow me to take the polygraph a second time, would I. Of course I stated yes, and added that I actually want it to be noted that I request a second polygraph.

I haven’t received any email, nor as my application been updated in the tracker. And I’ve heard of people getting second polygraphs in the past but usually that’s with inconclusive results or they passed and the agency is trying to fake them out. However given the fact that I didn’t even get past the suitability questions before my exam was ended early I don’t any hope that I secretly passed, and I also don’t have much hope that I’m going to get a second chance in lieu of a BQA.

But does anyone have any insight on the likelihood that I would be given a second shot? Are second chances after a “failed test” even that common? It really does suck that this agency puts so much faith into this magic box, that at its core relies on a correlation/causation fallacy to come to the conclusion that somebody is lying or not. I’ve always heard the stories of people being wrongly accused by the box and failing their polygraph and took them with a grain of salt, but now having experienced that exact scenario I am not as prone to disregard the magic box hate.